Hello from the team here at Rise HR and welcome to our new Newsletter format. We noticed our old version was being filtered into many junk folders so hopefully this version is useful to you, here we will share a summary of any upcoming employment law changes and any Rise HR team news.
We are still keeping a close eye on the legal changes and waiting for confirmation on any impacting Employment Legislation (on the back of the new Labour Government). We will be sure to update you when clear guidance has been announced.
Further down, we have provided detail around the Worker Protection Act 2023, which will come into effect on 26th October 2024 and the new Tipping Act, which comes into force this month as well.
New Team Member – HR Consultant Rebecca Marks
We’d like to say a warm welcome to Rebecca Marks (known as Becky), joining us as an experienced HR Consultant in the Cheltenham and Gloucestershire region. Becky comes to us from RSK and has a wealth of HR Experience.
Becky is already getting stuck in and enjoying meeting our clients! Welcome to the Rise HR team Becky.
Farewell to Sarah
Last month, we said our goodbyes to our HR Consultant, Sarah Makepeace (she is off on an adventure). We’re sure you’ll all agree Sarah has been a valuable member of the team for the last 18 months. Good luck Sarah!
Preventing Sexual Harassment
On 26th October, the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 will come into effect.
This new legislation creates a positive duty (the ‘preventative duty’) on all employers (regardless of their size) to take reasonable steps to protect their workers from sexual harassment in the course of their employment.
Despite there being UK employment legislation in place addressing sexual harassment in the workplace since 1986, sexual harassment is sadly all too common in the workplace. In 2016, the TUC published their report entitled, ‘still just a bit of banter?’, which summarised their research into sexual harassment in the workplace. Some of the key findings were:
- 52% of the women polled had experienced some form of sexual harassment
- 20% of the women polled had experienced unwanted sexual advances.
There is no limit to the compensation the Employment Tribunal can award a person who succeeds in a claim for sexual harassment. Compensation is usually based on any financial losses as well as injury to feelings and in some cases personal injury or aggravated damages.
This new legislation will mean that any compensation can be increased by up to 25% of the tribunal finds that the employer did not take reasonable steps’ to prevent the sexual harassment – there could be a high cost of failure to comply with the new duty.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission have just published their guidance for employers on preventing sexual harassment in the workplace and this is well worth a read to gain a deeper understanding of what steps you may need to take.
Our HR Consultants are here to provide support and guidance to help you successfully navigate this new legislation, review and update policies and set clear expectations around behaviour to your workforce. We have our Line Managers’ Bullying and Harassment Training which covers this and can be provided either face-to-face and online.
Please do not hesitate to get in touch for a discussion about how we can help: hello@risehr.co.uk
The New Tipping Act in the UK: What you need to know
The new Tipping Act, which comes into effect October 2024, is aimed at ensuring fairer treatment for workers in industries where tipping is common, such as hospitality and services.
The Act was introduced to address long-standing concerns about how tips are distributed, ensuring workers receive the gratuities intended for them by customers.
To read our full blog, please click here
Client Satisfaction Survey
Thank you to those that have completed our client satisfaction survey, your feedback is really valuable to us and ensures our business is aligned with our clients needs and values as a firm.
If you haven’t managed to complete it yet, but would still like to, you can complete it here.
Any questions about anything in this newsletter, please contact your usual HR Consultant or e-mail us direct: hello@risehr.co.uk.
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Best wishes from the Rise HR Team